Originally Posted by
WizardOfBoz
You think 210 pounds is large?!
Yes, I do. And so would most of the manufacturers I bet of bikes with those types of tube sets.
Someday, I would really like to see strain gauges placed on a frame and then put a rider on it and ride it and record the data. I assume this is done at some level on new designs and materials or maybe not. Or put the instrumented bicycle on a machine made to mimic a rider on a bumpy road and the usual curb jumping shenanigans the poor bicycles see routinely not to mention cycle cross, gravel and downhill mtbs. And put a frame in an iron monster that will twist, pull and shake a frame at typical stress levels (determined in the aforementioned tests) until a mean time to failure could be established. Like we do with airplanes and other such machinery.
I bought an old Raleigh step through 3-speed. Began reworking it for my niece as I had done several for myself and wife. Started looking up inside the frame with a borescope (yes, I have one) and was of the mind that I would retire the frame due to rust in the tubes and leaking rust out of the fork weep holes. it looked fine on the outside. Pitting rust on the head tube area and bottom bracket and no telling what in the forks where my scope could not go, no way I would put a child on it.